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Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Tomorrow at 2pm the full schedule for the New York Rangers 2011-12 season will come out. In the meantime the schedule is leaking out one game at a time. Already knowing the season will open in Sweden against the Los Angeles Kings on October 7 and San Jose on October 8along with the Winter Classic on January 2nd.

Today the New York Rangers announced that for the second straight season the home opener will be against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Does that guarantee that Brad Richards will be in attendance either way?

The 2011 draft is only two days
away, and the Rangers scouting and front office staff is looking through many
prospects to see who they want to select with the 15th overall selection.
With the current state of the Rangers defense both at the NHL and prospect
level one would expect that New York will look for offense in the first round
of the draft hoping to find an impact scorer. There are a number of
offensive prospects that could be available at 15. We have already looked
at Mark
Scheifele, Mark
McNeill, Zack
Phillips, Joel
Armia, Sven
Bartschi, Ty
Rattie, Matt
Peumpel, Vladislav
Namestnikov and Rocco
Grimaldi for their potential fits for the Rangers.

One name that has been connected
to the New York Rangers quite a bit recently is Tyler Biggs of the US National
Development Team. Being 6’2” and 210
pounds there is a natural reason to connect him to the Rangers as they need
size in the organization and a power forward for the future. He has shown a willingness to play in the
dirty areas and uses his size in front.

Beyond his sheer size, Biggs is
most known for his leadership abilities and willingness to stand up for his
teammates. Those are both excellent
qualities to have in a young player, but they don’t necessarily make a player
worthy of the #15 pick in the draft. There
are concerns about his hands and ability to score which have some questioning
what the upside is for him offensively.

Jess Rubenstein of The
Prospect Park thinks that Biggs is the perfect complement to a line with
Chris Kreider and Derek Stepan down the line.
I have great respect for Jess and the work he does in understanding so
many prospects in the organization and the draft process, but I think it is a
little early to start drafting for the possibility of pairing Biggs with
Kreider and Stepan. If he is the best
player on the board, then take him and hope for the combination to develop down
the road, but you cannot start taking for need and hoping the player develops
into what you think he can become.

Biggs certainly merits
consideration as a prospect due to his size, physical play, skating ability and
determination. It’s difficult though to see him as a first rounder since he
does not possess the offensive skills that would be worthy of such a high pick.
Biggs may only top out as a 15-20 goal guy who can provide some grit and
nastiness which fits nicely on some clubs but the ceiling doesn’t seem high
enough to justify anything other than the second round.

25. Tyler Biggs, RW U.S. NTDP
(USHL) 6-2, 210 04/30/1993
Victimized by unrealistic expectations, Biggs could end up proving a lot of the
critics wrong. We don't buy into the belief that he killed his stock at the
World Under-18 tourney- we just don't feel that it was as high with the NHL
teams out there as Central scouting led everyone to believe when they ranked
him fifth overall among North American skaters on their midterm list. He lives
up to his last name- a powerful skater and battering ram who plays the game
like a legitimate power forward. When Biggs is on top of his game, he bulls his
way to the net, spins and cycles effortlessly while protecting the puck from
defenders powerless to separate him from it, and unleashes a rocket shot that
is heavy and hurts. Unfortunately, scouts are unsure of his hockey sense and
ability to create for himself. That's one of those aspects of hockey that is
extremely tough to project and Biggs could very well end up being a legitimate
top-six forward someday- he can skate, hit and fight. But there are enough
concerns about his upside that keep him from being a top-20 guy in our view.
However, he is extremely close- the margin between his not making the cut is
razor-thin as any one of the players ahead of him at 21-24 could all make the
case to be inside the top-20. He's a good player, but how good is the big
question on draft day.

The Rangers do need size in
their lineup and a big bodied power forward is something the organization has
been looking to find for a long time now, which makes Biggs an intriguing
possibility, but just not the right choice at #15. When picking #15 there should be more upside
to a player than there is with Biggs. It
is certainly possible that like with most bigger players it will take him
longer to put the total package together and going to the University of Miami
is an excellent move for him, but there should be players on the board with
more to get than him in that spot. If
the Rangers can move down a little in the first and gain something for it, then
taking Biggs would not seem like the stretch it feels like in this spot.

Biggs was the instant selection when I asked The Prospect
Park’s Jess Rubenstein about his thoughts on the draft a couple of days ago,
citing Biggs’ ability to come up big in key games as one particular reason for
his choice. It’s hard to argue either; Biggs has competed in two Under-18 World
Championships, winning gold in 2010 and ’11, scoring a crucial overtime winner,
his second of the night, against Canada in the semi-finals this year.

I love the leadership aspect of Biggs’ game, but I’d
personally like to see the Rangers go with a higher offensive ceiling when
picking amongst the likes of Armia, Baertschi, McNeill and Scheifele. The
Rangers have grinders, guys that lay it all on the line for the cause, and
though you can never have enough of a good thing it’s hard to pass on more talented
guys should they be available.

In a season of pleasant surprises for the New York Rangers,
Michael Del Zotto and Marian Gaborik stand out as the two most disappointing
players from the 2010-11 season. Maybe
then it should come as no surprise that Rangers director of player personnel
Gordie Clark draws a link between the struggles of one and the down season for
the other. According to Andrew
Gross over at Ranger Rants that is exactly what Clark did in previewing the
upcoming NHL draft.

“I clearly think it hurt Gaborik. This was the guy hitting
him for a lot of those breakaway passes. Gabby never got into tip-top shape.
And when he came back, Michael was not into the groove of his game.”

The idea of Del Zotto not being able to connect with and
spring Gaborik for breakaways is something that cannot be discounted in the
struggles of the Rangers sniper. There
were certainly issues with the way Gaborik skated last season in allowing himself
to be checked easier by staying to the outside, but this has merit as
well. The reason for the merit is not
just the potential goals that Gaborik could have gotten from the passes if they
connected, but the confidence that comes with putting the puck in the net more
consistently. For Gaborik the lack of
results became a confidence problem and only furthered the lack of results in
terms of goal scoring. It became a cycle
within itself and had a large impact on why he had a disappointing second
season on Broadway. This view from Clark
is yet another reason it is too early to throw in the towel on Del Zotto
because of how important a skilled puck-moving defender can be everyone around
him.

In terms of Del Zotto himself, Clark was optimistic in how
he will respond to the struggles of his second season with the Rangers.

“It seems he got in a little bit of a rut,” Clark said.
“Going to the minors is never a bad idea. I know players don’t like it. He
clearly would have been back up (to the NHL) but, two or three games in (the
second time Del Zotto was sent to Connecticut), he breaks his thumb. The games
he did play down there, he was a dominant player in the AHL. He’ll come back.
He’s a competitive kid. When you can find a guy who can move a puck like that,
there’s always a job in the NHL.”

That is great to hear especially with the rumors and
questions about Del Zotto’s conditioning and work ethic that have swirled
around. The competitive nature of a
person is tested most in the struggles and if Del Zotto uses the struggles of
his second season as motivation to prove all the doubters wrong, then the
Rangers are going to get a heck of a turnaround year from an immensely talented
defender. The person who might benefit
most from that is Marian Gaborik.

Be sure to check out Ranger Rants to see what Gordie Clark had to say in previewing this year's draft.Del Zotto

After
missing the playoffs in 2009-10 season and looking at a summer where there was
little to no money under the cap the expectations for New York Rangers fans
were minimal in what the team would do.The 2010-11 season saw the Rangers have career seasons from half the
roster and incorporate numerous rookies into the NHL. The combination of hope
that gave the fans about their individual futures and the fact the Rangers now
have money has had the mentality of going after whatever big name is available
return to the conversation this summer.

There
is no doubt that the time will come where the Rangers will have to bring in
pieces, through free agency and/or trade, in order to get over the hump and win
a championship.Despite the best efforts
of many to convince otherwise, this is not that time.New York is not one player away from winning
a title next season, especially if bringing in that player slows the
development of other pieces that the Rangers need to grow to be legitimate
contenders.

As
fans there is the natural overvaluing and over-attachment to the players that
are on your team.There is also the
overvaluing and assumption of what a player from outside can do for your
team.Brad Richards, Paul Stastny, Jason
Spezza are all elite talents that can help a team be better, but the cost for
each is high in different ways.

For
Richards the concern is not about the money, but the number of years you are
paying that kind of salary to him.With
Stastny it is a combination of the cost and paying it off a down season to have
another player making an elite salary who while an All-Star is not a star
caliber player.On Spezza you get an
elite talent, but asset cost would like you end up with the Rangers having to cut
deep into the depth they have built to make the deal.If you could get Richards for three or four
seasons, then you make the deal.If
Stastny or Spezza came at salary dump prices, then you are having different
discussions.The problem is none of
those are going to happen.

The
Rangers can make any of these moves and likely be a better team today, but the
point of the rebuilding process was to have sustainable long-term success and
not sacrifice it all for one shot.We
all want another Stanley Cup title in New York, but there is this urge to hit
the panic button and go back to the old ways of chasing the biggest name at all
costs instead of sticking with the system that has given the fans more reason
to hope than in many years.

There
is no reason that another year of development to see what the team really has
in Anisimov, Stepan, Kreider, and Thomas, then make the decision as to where
the holes are to be filled as you continue to have the reinforcements added
from within.It will take a combination
of your own talent and outside pieces to win a championship so there is nothing
that says this summer has to be the moment the Rangers look to buy the big name
when the rest aren’t ready for prime time yet.Trust the process and don’t look for the shortcut.The quick fix is what got the Rangers into
this mess over a decade and it will take time to be really ready to be out of
it.No reason to jump right back in with
huge contracts in the hopes that they bring a title.